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When Optimism is Dangerous

Optimism is an essential part of a successful life. It gives you hope. It makes you confident and helps you go through hard times. It encourages you and helps you to overcome your problems. It allows you to see the opportunities in every problem rather than problems in every opportunity.

Is there such a thing as dangerous optimism? Can you be dangerously optimistic? In order to answer this, you have to understand the concept of “optimism bias.” This is a belief that you are less likely to experience bad things in your life like other people. This kind of optimism heavily influences your perception of life and reality. Bad things happen to others that do the same things as you do, but it will never happen to you.

Some personality types are more optimistic than others. People who are melancholic or phlegmatic are rarely too optimistic. These personality types are too negative to be overly optimistic. The choleric personality is optimistic in a realistic way. They are doers and the ability to make things happen gives them great optimism and energy for future endeavors.

The personality type that has the most optimism and the biggest problem with it is the sanguine. This is because the sanguine refuses to grow up emotionally. Sanguines live in their fantasy dream world and can easily imagine that everything in the future will turn out good for them. They are fun lovers who find it difficult to believe that anything bad will ever happen to them. Their decisions are often influenced by seeing life as they want it to be rather than as it really is. They choose to be optimistic because it feels better to them than being realistic.

Other people often take advantage of them because their optimism prevents them from evaluating situations, relationships and life logically and properly. They make decisions with their emotions rather than with their heads. They choose to be optimistic because optimism and fun means everything to them. Often this very dangerous optimism causes them to make bad decisions. They don’t have the willpower to say “no” to bad choices and refuse to learn from failures and past experiences. To them this is just another brick in the road.

This kind of optimism is dangerous because a person constantly underestimates the risks and banishes every idea of failure. They rush headlong into dangerous situations, relationships and endeavors. Their emotions overrule their logic. They try to wish away bad things simply because they believe it will not happen to them.

Optimism is dangerous if you live in a fantasy world ruled by unrealistic optimism. Make it a goal in life to face reality and see things as they really are rather than how you wish them to be. This will save you from many disappointments.

If you continue to live a life based on the belief that bad things only happen to other people you are living in a fantasy world. Be honest with yourself and remember you cannot live in a world full of illusion and self-deceptions. Your goal in life is to find and live in the reality because only there will you discover and experience true success and fulfillment.